WAW: Lesson - Results of World War I

A map of Europe in 1920Results of World War I

At the end of World War I, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire collapsed and fragmented. Representatives from Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, and France crafted the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which ended World War I. President Woodrow Wilson pushed for European self-determination (meaning ethnic sovereignty), which led to the creation of 9 new countries: Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Hungary.

Image note: This map of Europe in 1920 includes the 9 new countries outlined in blue.

The treaty held Germany, the major remaining Central power, accountable for the damages of World War I. Under the War Guilt Clause, Germany had to:

  • reduce its military
  • lose land
  • pay war damages

The former Ottoman territories were placed under a Mandate System – Syria was controlled by France and Iraq and Palestine were placed under British control.

A soldier from WW1 showing signs of shell-shock.Lasting Effects

Culturally, nations that participated in World War I saw their soldiers return disillusioned and shell-shocked. These young men were sometimes called the “Lost Generation”. The young man pictured to the left has a crazed/unfocused look in his eyes. He is shell-shocked, the phrase used by the British to describe what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The economic damages of World War I led to isolationist trade policies in Europe and retaliatory tariffs by the United States. This would spiral into a Worldwide Great Depression in the 1920s and 1930s. Inflation soared.

Additionally, a flu pandemic spread worldwide in 1918-1919, potentially spreading as infected soldiers mingled and returned home. The CDC estimated that 25-50 million people (or 1 out of every 30 people worldwide, if the higher number) died. The pandemic would increase isolationism, but would also deal psychological damage to victims' families.

Side note: this pandemic is often called the "Spanish flu" but that is a misnomer - the flu did not have its origins in Spain. The proper name is the 1918 H1N1 flu pandemic. The first known case of the 1918 pandemic flu was reported at Fort Riley, Kansas. It earned the name Spanish flu because uncensored newspapers in Spain were the first to report it (the other nations suffering from the pandemic censored reports of the pandemic to hide the damage being done).

Combined with the cultural trauma of World War I, the economic desperation would leave some European nations vulnerable to the rise of fascist and communist dictators, which we will learn more about later in the Module.

Practice Activity

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